French FN deputy launches attack on ‘exhibitionist’ LGBT Pride parades
The vice president of France’s Front National has attacked “exhibitionist” LGBT Pride.
Paris Pride took place over the weekend, with extra security restrictions in place and a shortened route in the wake of the Orlando attacks and last year’s Paris attacks.
The march was welcomed by a majority across the city – but FN vice president Louis Aliot took to Twitter to attack it.
Mr Aliot, who is in a relationship with the party’s leader Marine Le Pen and was previously the head of her campaign, said the Pride march was “militant” and “exhibitionist”.
He wrote: “The FN does not support Pride marches – an exhibitionist symbol of a militant factionalism, and anti-FN.”
The message was shared by FN politicians including MP Marion Maréchal-Le Pen – the leader’s niece and another prominent figure in the party.
The far-roight FN has seen a boom in popularity in France in recent years, making shocking gains in regional elections last year.
In the first round of voting, the country’s National Front party (Front Nationale) beat both the governing Socialist Party and the centre-right opposition, picking up 27.88% of the vote.
However, the party was beaten into third place behind both the Socialists and the centre-right in the second round of voting, as people turned out in large numbers to stop the party from making gains.
The FN’s rise in popularity, which pundits claim is party a result of the Paris terrorist attacks last month, has raised concerns about the homophobic and anti-Semitic views that are mainstream in the party.
The FN has previously been accused of fostering homophobic violence by aligning itself with aggressive anti-equal marriage factions – though it claims it has since reformed.
The party still a number of openly homophobic politicians who have attacked the “evil homosexual lobby” – though vice president Florian Philippot was outed last year by Closer magazine.
The party has previously signalled that it would strip away President Hollande’s equal marriage reforms, with Presidential and Parliamentary elections set for 2017.
Even UKIP leader Nigel Farage has previously ruled out working with Le Pen, accusing her party of “anti-Semitism and general prejudice”.
